The Return
by Escape
Summary: (Sequel to The End) It turns out the War wasn't as done with as everyone hoped...
1. The Return

All right, all right. I know everyone hates these things- I know I sure do. So I'll make it short and sweet. All characters (you know who they are) were created by and belong to K.A. Applegate. The rest is all me. (Yes, that's right. Great 'n wonderful ME! Or maybe that was just my imagination...) 

Oh, yeah. Sorry about this too: Copyright 2000. 

Oh- another thing I might want to mention. Before you read this, read "The End." This is the sequel to "The End". 

Great! Now that that's all taken care of, read on. And please review. I want to know what you think! 

Chapter 1 

I think you've meet me already. You know, Cat. One of the Animorphs that won the war. 

Remember how I told you about that dream I had? 

I also told you that it would come true. 

That's what I'm telling you about now. The second part of the story. It was my first day of school. Rachel had come over to my house early and helped do my hair. I was holding it back from my face with a head band, a first, and we had also curled it, another first. I had gotten new shoes, and a new outfit completely. And I hate to brag (Uh-huh. Riiiiiiight), but I looked great. I was hoping the day would be great. And right away, it was. 

Jason was this old crush I used to have. For a really long time. I finally got over it fast when I looked at it from a spectator's view. I realized that he was a perverted freak, to be quite honest with you. Anyway, it turned out he had moved here over the summer, and, as luck would have it, going to the same school as me. I pretty much ignored him. But I kept noticing that he kept looking over at me. I knew what he was thinking. This wasn't the same kid that he had known in elementary school. 

Anyway, about halfway through the school day, I ran into one of the kids from Rachel's class. 

I was walking down the hall, to meet the others, when this girl tripped me. Of course, I fell. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, little freshman. Did you fall?" I could tell by her tone she had meant to. Of course, I didn't need her tone to tell me that, but- well, you get the idea. 

I got up. "Gee, I think so. Or are you too blind to notice?" Her little sheep girlfriends stopped giggling and looked at each other. 

"Hey. Listen you little brat, freshmen don't speak to the older kids like that. Got it?" I remember thinking, Wow. She doesn't like attitude, does she? 

"Well, I'm not 'freshmen'. I'm me, with a mind of my own. Unlike those sheep following you there," I nodded to the other girls. They started pouting. "Got it?" 

The girl put her books down and looked like she was ready to punch me. I couldn't help it. I smiled. I shoved my back pack onto my left shoulder. I made a fake punch to the right, not close enough to hit her, just to distract her. While she was trying to block that, I tripped her. She fell heavily. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, older kid. Did you fall?" A few kids snickered. Some laughed. I noticed Jason was looking at me again. I walked away to join the others. 

The first day of school, and already I'd gotten into a fight. 

When I got home, I'd have to remember not to celebrate too much. 

Chapter 2 

Later on that day, I got in trouble with Jake. Rachel, of course, thought it was funny that I had beaten Jessica. But Jake gave me a long lecture about calling attention to myself. I responded with giving him a lecture about letting people push you around and what could happen. 

It ended in a draw. I was very convincing, everyone could see my side and even if it was leaning toward Jake's side, I had Hardy to stick up for me. 

My mom had already bought a new house in Jake, Marco, and Rachel's neighborhood, so after school, the guys came to help us move in. 

Mom knows Rachel's mom because my mom is a secretary who works with her. 

That night, I went flying. I hadn't done this in a long time, the morphing. I hadn't needed to. The war was over. Anyway, I had gone to Cassie's barn and acquired an owl. And I really, really, really wanted to try it out. 

I had the house to myself, since mom had gone to a dinner party or something for the company and my parents were separated. I had a new, two-story house. I climbed up on the roof and morphed. I didn't have to worry about people watching. Trees were all over the place. Big ones. I liked the owl's sight more than anything. It put the smallest blade of grass under a microscope and under a spotlight. I flew around town, minding the two hour limit. I went towards the sea. 

My owl mind, although to me the water looked pretty weird, could tell that the wide expanse of mercury and chrome was actually water. I was in the ocean. I swooped low and felt my wings skim the water. It felt kind of funny. I decided to do it again. And again. Then I decided to try and skip on the water kind of like when someone is skipping rocks. 

{Hey, what are you doing?} Tobias asked. 

{Skipping owls?} I said with a laugh. {Try it.} 

He watched me for a while. {I don't think I should. Over the ocean, there aren't many thermals. And especially at night.} 

{Oh. What are you doing here then?} I guess the owls could deal more with less thermals. I'd have to check it out later. 

{I don't know. I was just here. I think the Ellimist had something to do with it.} 

{Doesn't he always?} 

Neither one of us saw the fin. I was too busy skimming. And then, suddenly, I felt something hit my foot. I ignored it. I mean, I figured it was probably some sort of seaweed or dead jellyfish or something. 

I came down again. {Hey, Tobias. Watch this.} 

I skimmed once... twice... three times, and then as soon as I touched down for the fourth, I felt something grab my leg. {Tobias!} I yelled. Pain shot through my leg. Whatever it was had gotten part of my other foot and stomach. It dragged me under. {Tobias! Help!} I yelled again. I couldn't see anymore. My vision was blurred in the water. I was losing blood fast. I could feel my life just draining away. I flapped my wet wings wildly. I pecked at whatever was holding me without much effect. Finally, I managed to pierce whatever it was with my beak and tore away a piece of skin. The creature let me go. 

{Cat! Cat! CAT! ANSWER ME!} 

I moaned. I knew it was too late. I started floating up towards the surface. I knew I was too weak to demorph. That thing was still around, anyway, probably with a vengeance. And I hate to admit it, but I was afraid of it. The pain had been awful. Knowing that I was dying was worse. I felt a wing touch the surface and something sharp grab it and lift me out of the water. I yelled feebly. 

{Hang on, Cat. Just hang on.} 

But I couldn't. I was dying. And after a while of blearily watching blood fall from my stomach, along with the stomach, actually, I gave in. 

Chapter 3 

I woke up somewhere that I didn't recognize. I could see the sea, but I couldn't see town. There were rats crawling all over the place. 

{Hey! How did you get here!} 

Rats. Sea. On an island. Can't see the city. David. I knew where I was. I was with David. The traitor. 

"Where are you?" I asked. 

{Right here.} A rat crawled onto my shoe. Wait a minute. I had demorphed. Tobias! Where was he? I had my usual clothes on. The clothes I had last worn. I looked good, but I kind of clashed with the scenery. But this couldn't be possible! Unless... The Ellimist. 

The Ellimist. The little sneak. The thieving creep. 

Suddenly, I wasn't by the sea. I was floating on a floor. Or maybe it was below it. Maybe in it. I don't know. I was in my leotard again and I could see the stars above and around me. Everything was shaded blue. But I could see through everything. Above, around, under. I wasn't in Crayak's universe. I was in the Ellimist's universe. And next to me was a boy. Kind of cute, actually. Okay, very cute. He was in tight biking shorts and a tight T-shirt. 

"Ellimist! Are you just going to keep us hanging here or what?" 

The Ellimist appeared in front of us. This time, he looked like a lady I hadn't seen before. 

"Mom," David said softly, surprised. 

NO, I AM NOT YOUR MOM, I AM THE ELLIMIST. 

David looked amazed and a bit disappointed. 

"So?" I asked sharply. "What's the deal? Why kill me, and then bring us here? Where are the others?" 

THEY HAVE GONE ON WITH THEIR LIVES. 

I looked at him, making him see that I didn't believe him, even though the fear it might actually happen seemed to push doubt into my mind. "In less than five minutes? Oh, that hurts." The attitude I had developed in the Hood during all those years was coming into play full force. 

The Ellimist laughed. IT'S BEEN MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES. IT HAS BEEN OVER TWENTY YEARS. 

"What?" David and I shouted. 

The Ellimist nodded. SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED, AND I NEED YOUR HELP. YOU KNOW, he said, looking at me, THAT I CAN NOT FIGHT CRAYAK. BUT SOMEHOW, TIME HAS BEEN CHANGED. I BELEIVE CRAYAK IS HELPING THIS AND PROTECTING WHOEVER IS CHANGING TIME. I DON'T KNOW WHO HAS DONE IT, I DON'T KNOW HOW. BUT I NEED THE TWO OF YOU TO FIND OUT. 

"I thought you knew everything that went on," I retorted. "You are everywhere and everything. Remember?" I conveniently forgot that he had already mentioned this. 

YES, BUT I BELIEVE THIS IS CRAYAK'S DOING. OR AT LEAST A SERVANT OF CRAYAK'S. THAT IS WHY I NEED YOUR HELP. 

David and I looked at each other. "Us?" David asked. "We don't even know each other." 

I looked at the Ellimist smugly. I wanted to go home. And if both of us got enough of an attitude, we just might. 

YOU MUST GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER, THEN. 

"Ahem. Is that why we're here?" I asked. 

NO, YOU ARE HERE TO SAVE TIME. 

"Ah. And, uh, why can't you handle it?" 

BECAUSE, I HAVE ENEMIES THAT I CAN'T FIGHT. ONE CATCH. YOU CANNOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS. YOU CANNOT TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE. IF YOU DO SO, I WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOU, SINCE CRAYAK WILL KNOW ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION TO ME. YOU'RE DEAD, SO YOU CAN'T DIE, CAT. AND IF YOU TOLD SOMEONE WHO YOU ARE, WELL, YOU CAN IMAGINE THE CONSEQUENCES. He almost sounded like he was checking items off of a grocery list. 

"Cool," David said. 

I hated to admit it, but I agreed with him. I was already dead and couldn't die twice. Not bad. 

GOOD LUCK. 

"Wait!" I shouted. Of course, I shouted too late. Suddenly, we were standing in the small, rat-infested rock. 

David was in jeans and a sweatshirt. I was in a tank top with a skirt. 

David looked at me. "Aren't you cold?" 

"Yes, I am. Very cold. I want to go home. Get some warm clothes." 

He nodded. "So who are you, anyway?" 

"Cat. But I think we'll have to call ourselves something else now. Since we can't tell people who we are. They were beginning to call me Kitty, so they might remember that. That wouldn't be coming right out and telling them who I am. You?" 

"I don't know. I guess Dave. So how do you know them?" 

"Oh, my cousin and I read these books about them. They tell their stories, pretty much. A bunch of other people can read them too, but people involved in the war can't." My teeth started chattering. "They didn't speak that highly of you." 

"I'm not surprised," he said solemnly. "But I have changed, you know." 

I raised my eyebrows. 

"Seriously. I mean, being trapped as a rat on this rock as a rat kind of does that to you. Not to mention dying." I didn't point out that the Ellimist hadn't said he couldn't die. 

"Yeah, speaking of this rock, why don't we get off of it?" I asked. By now, my legs were turning blue. 

We had our morphing power still so we morphed to owls and got off of that rock. 

{Do you know how long it's been since I saw anything except that rock?} 

{I'm guessing a pretty long time,} I said dryly. 

It was silent for a few minutes. {You know, I told you that I've changed. I take it you don't believe me, but you don't know me, either.} 

{You want to know why I'm being rude? I've learned not to trust people. Is that okay with you?} 

{Whatever. But we have to work together.} 

{Yeah, right. There's my house.} 

I went down. One of the windows was missing. Odd, I hadn't noticed it. But then again, it had been over twenty years. I flew in through that and David followed me. It was empty. There was a bit of rainwater and dust in a few places. And plus, there were a few beer cans and bottles and some other trash. That kind of got me mad. I demorphed. "Mom?" I didn't notice that I was still in my skirt and tank top. 

"I don't think she's here, Cat." David had also demorphed. 

I went to where my room had been. He couldn't tell me what he thought about my personal life! I looked around. Nothing. Not even a few scraps of a sweater. 

"What do you want to do now?" 

"Go to Cassie's. She and Rachel would give me hand-me-downs sometimes." 

"Cassie's still alive?" 

"Yeah. The war ended. Oh, yeah. You didn't know that." 

He looked surprised. "The war's over?" 

"Yeah. Come on." I morphed to owl again and flew to Cassie's. David didn't say anything. Finally, I saw the barn. They had more animals now, and sure enough, there was Cassie, somewhere in her thirties, trying to calm down the animals. I could see her through the window above the door. 

{Stay up there, David.} 

{Why?} 

{Just do it.} 

I flew down next to the barn door and demorphed. Once again, I was slightly, uh, totally freezing. "Hello?" I called into the barn. I cracked open the door a bit and called again. 

Cassie came towards me. She looked at me a bit suspiciously and apparently decided to be careful. Old habits die hard, I guess. 

"May I help you?" she asked. 

I nodded. "I was wondering if you had any old clothes you could spare." 

Cassie opened the door wider and looked at me with a bit of surprise. "You're wearing that in the dead of winter?" 

I looked down. "I kind of got stuck in it," I said honestly. 

"What's your name?" 

"Kitty." 

Cassie's head came up suddenly and fixed on my eyes. Meanwhile, I was practically begging her to recognize me. See, the Ellimist had said that we couldn't tell them who we were. But we could give hints and let them figure it out. 

"Come on in," Cassie said. She started walking towards the house. When we got inside, Cassie pointed to a man reading the paper at the breakfast room table. "That's Jake, my husband." 

Ah. So time wasn't that messed up after all. 

"I'll go find you something to wear. Do you need a place to stay?" 

"Um, I think we can get by." 

"We?" Jake asked, looking behind me. 

"Uh, well, yeah. My friend is in the woods, still." 

"Oh." 

Cassie went upstairs to get some clothes. I got a look at the living room. There was a Christmas tree with tons of presents under it. I wandered closer to read the labels with Jake watching me carefully. There were presents for Rachel, Tobias, Jake and Cassie, of course, Marco, Hardy, even Ax. I laughed. 

"What?" Jake asked. 

"I didn't know Ax knew what Christmas even was." 

Jake looked at me hard. "You know him?" 

I nodded. "From a long time ago. Helped save the world, remember?" 

Jake looked at me harder. "How do you know that?" 

"I did my part." 

"That war was over twenty years ago. You don't look that old." 

"I get around. Plus, I was kind of out of the game for a while." He stared at me. "I'm Kitty." 

He looked at me a bit longer and then got up, saying, "I'll go check on Cassie." 

A few minutes later, Cassie brought down some sweaters and jeans. Plus, a leotard. An old one. It used to be mine. I looked at them again. All of them had used to be mine. "I think they're your size." 

"They are, thanks. Oh, and do you know anyone named Hardy?" I asked, pretending I hadn't just read it off of the label for presents. I told them his last name. 

They looked at each other. "Yeah. As a matter of fact, he's coming over for Christmas dinner tomorrow night. Why?" 

"He's a relative of mine." 

They looked at each other again. "Well, he hasn't mentioned you," Jake said. 

"Trust me, he would if he knew I was around." 

"Well, why don't you stop by sometime tomorrow night, then?" Cassie asked. 

"Thanks. Maybe I will. Thanks again." I left and walked into the woods. 

Behind me, I heard Cassie tell Jake, "Did she remind you of..." 

"Yeah, she did. But she can't be alive." 

She wasn't dead, not exactly. But she was back. 

Chapter 4 

"I need to find my parents," David told me. He had followed me into the woods and demorphed. 

"Well, we'll do that tomorrow. And find mine." I slipped into the jeans and sweater. Then I smiled. My pocketknife was still in the back pocket of my jeans, along with a crisp new twenty that Cassie had probably slipped in. "Tomorrow night, we're supposed to meet the guys for dinner." 

"What happens if they recognize me?" David asked. 

I looked at him. "They didn't recognize me." 

David looked at me, as if trying to tell if I was telling the truth. 

"Would you stop that? They kept doing that too, and you have no idea how annoying it is." 

"Fine." 

I put on a few more sweaters. I was still freezing. 

"Are you okay?" David asked. 

"Yeah, just cold." 

"Hmm. Well, let's get some sleep." 

The next day, we went to the libraries and archives, found David's parents. Anyway, it was kind of sappy. (I broke into David's house for him so he could see how his parents were doing without actually going one on one. We couldn't sneak in because the bug person had just come. We didn't even see his parents.) 

Mine? We couldn't find them. 

And with the messed up time thing, we didn't have a clue what to do. 

So that's what we did. We found David's parents and found out that we couldn't find mine. The highlight of the afternoon, I should probably be ashamed to say, was breaking into David's house. 

I wasn't feeling any warmer, and I was beginning to get a killer headache. I wondered if it was a side effect of dying. 

Chapter 5 

At dinner, everyone showed up. We went in as soon as Hardy and Laurel showed up. Hardy, Laurel, basically everyone there, looked at us suspiciously. 

David was nervous. I didn't really blame him, either. I mean, he was a traitor to these people, and they had pretty much killed him. So the question was, what would they do to him if they found out who he was? 

Me? I was winging it. Dropping a hint every chance I got. The guys started looking at me like I was crazy. 

Finally, it was time for dinner. Ax was there as a human. Hardy and Laurel had both gotten married, but their wife and husband were at home. Rachel and Tobias actually had two kids. Cassie and Jake three. Hardy had two. 

All of the kids were eating at another table. 

Jake got up and the beginning of dinner and made a toast. He made it to Cat and David. I looked at David, who carefully looked at the wine he had managed to pour himself and took a dip sip. 

Then we dug in. I wasn't that hungry so I didn't eat much. And I was still cold. I couldn't figure it out. 

David gulped down his food. Ax was the only person to eat more. And drinking? David managed to catch the wine bottle a number of more times as it went around the table. I noticed, along with everyone else, that he was starting to laugh a lot more, and his face was getting redder. 

I concentrated on trying to get my teeth to stop chattering. 

They were all talking about things from the past. Memories of battles, things like that, pretty much ignoring we were there. Then they started talking about Cat and David. 

"What happened to Cat?" I asked. 

"Um, she was playing in the ocean one night," Tobias said. "Then this shark came along." 

"Oh. What time of year was it?" 

"Why does that matter?" 

"Please?" 

"It was fall. The first day of school." 

"Huh. That's unusual. Sharks head toward warmer waters in the fall when it gets cold. And they don't come out at night, either." 

"So?" 

I struggled to find an answer. "It's just weird, that's all." 

Hardy cleared his throat. "So you're homeless?" 

"Kind of. I don't know what happened to my parents." 

"That's kind of unusual. What are you doing here?" 

A straight question. Requiring a straight answer. One that I couldn't answer. "Um, well, we're uh." Then I noticed that David was tilting towards one side. "David? You okay?" 

"David?" Hardy jumped out of his seat. The others did too. 

"Cat," David muttered and passed out. 

Then, for some odd reason, I passed out too. 

Chapter 6 

I was floating, but not through the Ellimist's universe. I was time skipping, I guess. Is that even the correct term for it? Going from place to place, from time to time. I started when I was little and I met Hardy for the first time. Even though I had never seen him, he looked oddly familiar. Later on, I saw Rachel and Cassie and me, shopping at the mall. Hardy was playing in the arcade. Then, for a split second, I was in a clearing, and there was this huge dark shape. 

"David's just plain drunk," someone was saying. "Cat's sick. Really sick." 

When I was really little, I saw my mom's stomach getting bigger. I knew what it was, my little brother. I knew it wasn't going to make it. My mom didn't know she was pregnant yet. I waited as long as I could. 

I was older, in my first fight. I punched Nicole in the eye. Then elbowed Adrian in the stomach. That would teach them to leave me alone. 

The clearing again. 

In my dream, I went to the little brother. We both knew he was dying. He agreed. I took him away to my new aunt and left him there. The next day, I woke up and forgot it as only a dream, but I was always aware of some sort of link. 

The clearing again. There was a sliver of moon, hardly enough to see by. There was something on that ship. I had to stop it. I don't know why, but the feeling around the clearing was pressing down on me, threatening to suffocate to death. I looked at the ship again. I was beginning to become aware of a presence. A presence that didn't mind killing. 

"She has a pretty high fever," the voice said again. "It's a wonder she's alive at all." 

"She looks cold." 

"We can't keep her warm. Those are all the blankets we have." 

I saw something under water. It was watching for me. Somehow, it knew when to strike. I didn't see it. Neither did Tobias. I started skimming the water. One, two, three, four, and then I felt it. The sense of something evil. And pain as it bit into me. 

I was alive again, playing with Laurel and Hardy. I was trying to teach them how to play soccer with a ball that was a bit taller than Laurel's knees. Later on, I tried to teach them how to count my money. It took me a while, but I finally got Hardy to count ten pennies and put them in a stack. 

The clearing. 

We were on vacation. I had heard Tobias tell Hardy in thought-speak. Hardy and I were beginning to connect somehow. We knew what the other was thinking. I heard what Tobias told Hardy and we looked at each other. 

The clearing. It was less than a mile from the rock. I felt something. The same evil that had been in the shark. The same void. The power. The sense it could control something. Me. The thought that it could control everything. The greed. 

And then I knew. I knew who it was. I knew what it was. And I knew that the war wasn't over. I knew. 

I started morphing. I was warm now. More than that, I was so hot I was sweating. The cockroach was almost crushed by blankets. But then again, the cockroach is one of nature's most successful creatures. {David? You awake?} 

"Yeah, I'm awake. They have me tied up. Can you believe it?" 

{Only because you got drunk.} Then I addressed everybody. {We're going to need another army.} 

"Why?" Erek asked. 

{Because they're back.} 

"What?" they all shouted at once. 

{The Yeerks. They're back. And Alloran has the Time Matrix.} 

{Alloran!} Ax shouted. {How do you know?} 

{Trust me on this. He was shamed when he went back home. So he's helping the Crayak. That means helping the Yeerks.} 

"Where are you?" Jake asked. 

{Ask my little brother,} I said with a laugh. 

"She's delirious!" Cassie said mournfully. 

"No she isn't," Hardy corrected. 

I watched as everyone turned to face him. He had seen and felt everything I had. He started to explain. I turned and left. 

"Wait!" Hardy shouted. "Where are you going?" 

{To stop another invasion.} 

"Oh, man." Hardy started morphing, racing to catch up. I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that I couldn't take them on by myself. But apparently, they hadn't morphed in a long time. Even Cassie was relatively slow. 

And I was out of there. 

I wasn't cold anymore. I was okay. Before I left completely, I picked up a little something or two. 

Once again, I was going to fight. The problem was, this time, I didn't have a plan. All I knew was that the thing on that ship had to be stopped. Immediately. 

Chapter 7 

Okay. Plan? Totally lacking. Idea? Sure. Just barge in. Wing it, basically. If there are any problems, start praying. But destroy what's on that ship and destroy it fast. 

I crept up to the door and took out the Dracon beam I had taken from the Chee. This was going to be a bit tricky. "Door, open." I said. Huh, it didn't even need thought-speak. That made my job easier. 

It flung open and I saw two Hork-Bajir. I had the beam on low setting and shot at them. They went down, unconscious. I stepped into the ship. I noticed it was a very modern Blade ship. I looked around for anyone else. No one. 

I started looking over the ship. Finally, I found it. A brand new Kandrona. I fired as at the fuse box, hit it with whatever I could find, until I was sure it was ruined beyond hope of repair. 

I went into another room. And I saw them. They were swimming around in a tank the size of a pool. A big pool. They just swam around in circles. I started walking towards the tank. I needed something heavy. Then again, I couldn't kill them because they were unable to defend themselves. Elfangor had refused to kill defenseless Yeerks once and that helped him become a hero. 

But you know what? When you're in a war, and your parents are lost, and you're pretty much dead, you kind of say, "To heck with heroism." 

I couldn't find anything to break the glass. So I leveled the Dracon beam at the glass. "God forgive me," I muttered. 

Then I felt something cold and then touch me neck. {Drop it,} the voice ordered me. {Slowly.} 

I held my arm out and dropped the Dracon beam, my only weapon. 

{So you came back,} Alloran commented. 

"Had to. You're as much filth as they are, you know that?" I pointed at the Yeerk tank. 

The tail blade tightened around my throat a bit and made me move a step backwards. 

Start praying, I told myself. 


	2. The Return, Part 2

Most of the characters belong to K.A. Applegate, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. The other characters (very few) are my own. 

COPYRIGHT 2000 

Please read and review. 

Chapter 8 

Alloran and I simply stood there for a while. 

"What?" I sneered. "Now that you've got me, you don't know what to do? Or have you gotten soft?" 

Alloran laughed and cut my throat. It went right through. 

YOU CAN'T DIE. That was what the Ellimist had said. The creep. Yet, I guess that now I was grateful to the jerk. 

I turned and laughed. Alloran looked at me in astonishment. He started backing away. An idea. Thank God, an actual idea! "You don't enjoy your life, do you?" I asked. 

{Why should I tell you?} 

"Because, unlike you, I can't die. I'm already dead, remember?" 

{No.} 

"And let me guess. You decided to help the Crayak because none of the Andalites wanted to have anything to do with you and none of the Yeerks wanted to mess with you and laugh at you, right?" 

{Yes.} 

"Oh, brother." 

I couldn't kill a basket case. I just couldn't kill a psycho. This guy needed help, and I could only think of one way. 

"Ellimist?" I asked sadly. More or less sadly. I'd be glad to have this done with. 

In a flash, he was there. Serious. Now he looked like Jake's dad. I rolled my eyes. "Think of something original," I joked. 

He didn't say anything. YOU WANTED TO SPEAK TO ME? 

"Yeah. Alloran needs help." 

HOW SO? 

"Well, years ago, you gave the choice to take them to a planet like they're own. You were probably bluffing, I know, but could you do for Alloran what you did for the Hork-Bajir?" 

The Ellimist thought. I BELIEVE SOMETHING CAN BE ARRANGED. 

"Good. Thanks." 

Before they disappeared, Alloran called to me, {They're coming. They're beginning a new attack. They've gone back with the Time Matrix before we came here. They'll strike tomorrow.} 

After they left, I sat there for a long time. Eventually, the others came. They didn't say anything to me, but Hardy patted my shoulder at one time, and David sat with me. 

What was I supposed to do with the Yeerks? I mean, wasn't going to give them hosts. But I didn't want to kill them. Then again, I couldn't let them die a slow, painful death of Kandrona starvation. 

"The Hork-Bajir are waking up," David told me quietly. 

I got up and walked towards them, keeping the Dracon beam on them. The guys let me. One of the Hork-Bajir started talking. 

"What did he say?" I asked Ax. 

{He just swore that he'd kill you.} 

I nodded. "Can he understand me?" 

{I think so.} 

"Good. Listen. I've destroyed the Kandrona, and I just found a bunch of your little friends taking a dip in a vat of Yeerk pool stuff or whatever. I'm not going to kill them, then again, I'm not going to let the die of Kandrona starvation. This is the first ship of many, I know, but the next Kandrona will be here too late. So I'm giving you the choice." 

Everybody was looking at me. The guys were looking at me like I was insane, which I think I agreed with. Tobias's face was perfectly blank except for when I said "choice". David looked like he supported me but still thought I was insane. The Hork-Bajir looked confused. 

"You cannot have hosts," I said. "But I'm not going to let those Yeerks die of Kandrona starvation. You get to choose what happens to them." 

After a long time, one said, "Fire." The other nodded in agreement. 

Ax looked at me. {They said 'fire'.} 

I nodded. "Thank you, Ax. And thank you," I said to the Hork-Bajir. "Would you like to go with them?" 

They looked at each other and then looked down at the floor. "Kandrona starvation bad," the first said. "Fire better." 

{Kandrona starvation bad. Fire better,} Ax translated. 

"Um, Ax? I think we've got it," Marco told him. 

{Sorry. I was not aware they were speaking in your language.} 

"Our language," Marco corrected. "It's your language too when you're here." 

{Your language,} Ax repeated. 

Marco rolled his eyes. "Hopeless." 

I smiled a bit. Not much had changed after all. "Jake, Cassie, you two look for the Time Matrix. The rest of us will collect some firewood." 

"The Time Matrix? It's here?" Cassie asked. "It's been missing for years!" 

"Yeah, that's how time got screwed up in the first place, if I don't miss my guess. Which means that's how time got messed up in the first place. And we need the Time Matrix if David and I are going to go back to our own time. 

We went outside and gathered all the dry, good wood we could find. Jake and Cassie found the Time Matrix in a room towards the back. 

"Ready?" David asked me. We closed the door. 

"Yeah." I shot at the tank. It burst open and liquid flooded across the floor. David and I fought against it. 

The water seeped out through the floor bit by bit until there was nothing left but a bunch of Yeerks on the floor. We opened the door, and Rachel brought the two Yeerks that had been in the Hork-Bajir's heads and set them down gently on the ground. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked me. 

I nodded but didn't say anything. They knew that I didn't want to kill them. That was enough. 

We shoved the wood into the room and the guys, along with the two Hork-Bajir, backed out. I was the only one left. I aimed the Dracon beam at a piece of wood. "As I said before, God forgive me." I fired. A spark caught. That caused a chain reaction. 

I left. 

"Well, you're still here," Tobias said, stating the obvious when I got out. He was in human morph, with his arm around Rachel. 

"There's still one thing we have to do." 

Chapter 9 

I flew back home without saying a thing. The guys asked me what I was going to do, made guesses, joked. 

I don't think they were very clear on what I was going to do until I reached Cassie's house and got the blue box. 

"I just want to say that I'm sorry. You know, for whatever might happen. Because I mean, I'll let you decide, but you'll need help now. No offense or anything, but you're too old to do this on your own." I looked at the seven kids, trying to figure out what their gifts were across the room. I looked back at them. "Can they?" 

They looked at each other. "I guess they have to," Jake finally said flatly. 

"We'll teach them," Cassie agreed. 

Marco spoke up. "Rachel can't teach them. The kids would be suicidal." 

Rachel threw a pillow at him. 

Tobias said, "Is this what you were sent here to do?" 

"No," David answered. "We weren't allowed to tell you who we were or what we were doing. The rules of some guy named the Ellimist. But Cat has a point. You need fighters." 

They nodded. 

"Kids? Could you come here for a second?" 

The kids cam over and looked at the cube. 

"Is that a present?" 

"Who's it for?" 

They were old enough. And they were like their parents. Hopefully, this would be the right thing to do. 

"This is your Christmas present," I told them. "But it comes with a price. You have to fight with it." 

"Cool," said a girl who looked a lot like Rachel. Marco buried his face in his hands. Rachel tried to hide a smile. 

"You can't tell anyone, either." 

"Why not?" said a boy; he looked the least bit like Jake. 

"Because it's dangerous. Your parents will explain the rest to you. And Ax will help. And Marco will be around. Doing something." 

"Hey!" Marco snapped. 

The kids giggled. 

"Do you want to accept this gift? You can't stay in morph for more than two hours, though, or else you'll be stuck like that. Forever." 

"Uh-uh. Daddy got stuck and he's human. Sometimes," the little girl objected. 

"Yes, but he couldn't morph for a very long time. Do you accept the gift?" 

"I'm in," the girl said fiercely. 

I looked at Marco. He stuck his tongue out, tilted his head, and pretended to be holding an imaginary rope that hung around his neck. Rachel pushed him off the couch. 

One by one, the other kids joined, until all of them had the power. 

"Merry Christmas," I told them. 

And then David and I were gone. 

Chapter 10 

For a split second, I saw what Elfangor had seen. The lines of all of our lives, meeting. But this time, there was another line. David. Further on, our lines kept twisting together, and more lines branched out from ours, running to meet Jake's and Cassie's and Rachel's and Tobias's, Ax's and Marco's. I saw another line meet Marco's, but then I was distracted. 

The Ellimist was standing in front of me. 

GOOD JOB. 

I didn't say anything. The weight of doing what I had done to those Yeerks, and then done to those kids was weighing heavily on me. 

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE YEERKS. I MADE SURE THEY NEVER EXISTED. SO THEY NEVER DIED. 

So he was messing around with time himself. Who knew how much of what I had seen would actually happen? "What will happen now?" 

EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU. YOUR CHILDREN WILL GROW UP, THE BLADE SHIP WILL RETURN, AND YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN WILL FIGHT. 

"Will we win?" I asked. 

DEPENDS. NO ONE REALLY KNOWS THE FUTURE ANYMORE. 

"I'll tell the others to hide the Time Matrix a bit better." 

GOOD IDEA. GOOD BYE. 

"Wait!" I shouted. Of course, once again, it was too late. I hate it when he does that, I thought. 

And then I realized something. 

I was alive. 

Chapter 11 

"What happened to her?" Cassie asked anxiously. 

{I don't know. I think it was a shark. It came out of nowhere.} 

I looked down at myself. My legs, stomach, and about half of my insides were missing. I began to demorph. 

"Thank God," Cassie said. "She's demorphing." 

"Poor thing," Rachel said in the background. 

{You would not believe the day I had.} 

{We know,} Tobias told me. 

"Trust me, you don't know," I said as my mouth appeared. "First of all, where's the Time Matrix?" 

I heard a loud noise like a door being opened suddenly. 

David looked around at the others. They stared at him in surprise. He saw me and ran towards me, nearly knocking me over in a bear hug. The Time Matrix was floating right behind him. 

Marco regained his voice first. "David! What are you doing here?" 

David backed off and dug his hands in his pockets. He looked around at them shyly. 

"This is going to take a lot of explaining," I said. 

"I'll say," Jake agreed. 

And we started explaining the whole story. We included the parts about their kids receiving the power, about how Hardy was in some odd way my brother. 

Then Erek came. "You know," he said, looking at me and David, "my memory's messed up completely, but I think I remember something about you two in the future. And you," he pointed at David," got so drunk you passed out." 

David laughed a bit nervously. We'd left that part out when we had told the others the story. 

"So, basically, you went and fixed time, and you left us here?" Rachel asked. 

"It's not like we had a choice," I told her. 

Jake looked at David. "And you helped?" 

David nodded. He was nervous again. 

Suddenly, the Ellimist was there. 

DAVID HAS CHANGED. 

We didn't say anything. We didn't know what to say. 

YOU HAVE TO ADMIT, IF THOSE TWO FIXED TIME WITH PRETTY MUCH NOTHING TO GAIN, HE'D HAVE HAD TO HAVE CHANGED. 

Rachel nodded to herself. 

"Pretty much nothing?" David echoed. 

YOU'LL SEE. IN THE FUTURE. 

He disappeared. 

"I hate it when he does that," all of us said. Then we started laughing. Jake got up and shook hands with David. 

"I guess you'll need a place to stay, huh?" 

"Until I find my parents," David answered. He said it so we would all know that he wasn't kidding. 

"Well, you can stay with us until then," Jake offered. 

"There's just one thing that I want to know about the future," Rachel said to us. 

"What?" 

"Did my daughter look good or what?" 

"Or what," David joked. 

I made a face. "So-so." 

Chapter 12 

The next day, at school, I went through my classes as usual. David was enrolling, courtesy of Jake's parents. No one mentioned his dark side. 

At lunch, I ran into Jessica, of course. 

Actually, she ran into me, literally. 

"So how's the freshman doing?" she sneered. 

"Pretty well, and you?" I was trying to be polite. I wasn't in the mood for a fight. (That's a momentous occasion, by the way.) 

"What, no smart remark?" 

I smiled. "I guess I'm just more mature." 

"Right." She sat down at the table. She was going to try to push me into having a fight with her. "You know, I think we have a problem." 

"Let me guess. This is your table, so you're just going to try and force me to move. Either that, or you're going to say that I'm the problem. Those are two completely unoriginal insults." 

Jessica stared at me, her mouth dropped. "You. Are. Rude." 

I smiled at her. "I guess so." 

She left with a slight pout. Then Jason came and sat next to me. 

"Good job dealing with Jessica." 

"Yeah. Right." 

"No really. And I was thinking, well, um, do you want to go to the movies sometime?" 

Right then David came by with a lunch tray and sat down on the other side of Jason. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, said hi, then started eating while staring at Jason. 

"Sorry, Jason, but I can't." 

He nodded and looked at David. David looked back. He didn't show any expression. He just chewed and stared at Jason like a dead man. 

Jason left. 

David looked at me, grinning. "Do I make a good dead person or what?" 

I shook my head. 

The guys came over and saw how every time Jason looked our way, David would turn around and stare at him. We started laughing. 

"So, uh, how cute was I in the future?" Marco asked. 

David and I looked at each other. 

"Okay, how rich was I?" 

David and I didn't answer. 

"Was I married?" 

I shook my head. 

"But I had a lot of girls hanging all over me, right?" He looked over at Rachel and raised his eyebrows, up, down, up, down. 

"Um. No," I said. 

"I think you got stuck in wrong future. The one that sucked." 

The End... For now... 


End file.
